We got to chat with the woman behind all of Selena’s great get-ups and she told us how the star manages to look so stylish — yet still totally age appropriate!

Growing up in the spotlight isn’t easy, but while most stars fall victim to flashing incidents and too-short skirts, Selena Gomez always manages to stay true to her style without taking her look too far. Thankfully she has a great support team, including her stellar stylist Basia Richard! “I’ve been working with her since she was 14-years-old,” Basia told us.

“I mean the whole idea for me was to always keep her looking cute but age appropriate, that’s the number one rule. I always keep the length in mind, but the more she’s growing now she’s staring to wear higher heels and the dresses are a little shorter,” she said. “I always say, you are 18-years-old now but you have another 20 years to grow in a very slow, but still noticeable, way. In my mind I don’t want to put her in an over-the-top gown where she goes from looking 18 to looking like she’s 40-years-old.”

The 18-year-old is definitely dressing a little more edgy, wearing designers she wasn’t wearing a year ago. “Since she’s growing I want to introduce her to new designers. For example now she’s wearing Dolce & Gabbana, when a year ago she wasn’t. We’re doing more high-end designers now, and young designers are a great fit for her age– I like whole idea of growing with her,” Basia said. “She can try more mature looks now and we can start experimenting and doing it.”

Even though she may storm the red carpet in high fashion frocks, when it comes to her personal style Selena’s totally down to earth! “It’s so funny about six months ago I was prepping her [Selena] for one of her press tours and I had all these racks of clothing and she comes back and is so excited, she’s like, ‘Look at what I got!’ and she showed me a very simple, classic black turtleneck that she got from Target. She was so excited to tell me how much she spent on it and she said she wanted to wear it. So when she was on her press tour she wore it with sparkly leggings.”

So, where else does Selena like to shop? Although she doesn’t have much time, when she does shop she likes department stores and malls so she can easily run in and out. “She loves BCBG, Target, the department stores, and the Victoria’s Secret catalogue,” Basia said.

When it comes to the red carpet, Basia said her [Selena’s] favorites include Marchesa, BCBG, Christian Cota, and recently Dolce & Gabbana. “She loves Marchesa, she always likes to see what they’re going to do next and she’ll go on Style.com to see pictures. She always asks for them,” she said.

One of her go-to accessories both on and off the red carpet is definitely hoop earrings! “She loves hoop earrings! She wears them absolutely everywhere — that’s like her ‘it’ accessory,” Basia said.

Every stylist knows that once in a while mishaps are inevitable — but Selena and Basia know how to handle these occurrences like a pro — even when it happens on a big night! “To be honest we’ve never had anything major even happen, but for the Never Say Never premiere we had two dresses and couldn’t decide between the two — but when she was getting dressed the zipper popped. It just so happened that she wore the other dress and totally killed it.”

Not only did Selena look amazing in that purple mini, but she also matched perfectly with Justin Bieber — was that planned? “The other dress was a purple gray, the whole team wore purple and the red carpet was purple. We felt like it was appropriate since the theme was purple.”

While Selena seems so happy with Justin, don’t expect the star to start turning to him for style tips!” She trusts her own opinions. She needs to feel good in what she wears, and regardless of what I have to say about it, or her mom or her friends, she’s going to wear what she feels good in,” Basia said.

Her confidence definitely comes through on the red carpet! Don’t you agree?

Selena Gomez looked absolutely stunning in NYC, expertly avoiding any could-be wardrobe malfunctions by holding her blouse close to her chest. Copy the star’s fall style with tips below!

Oh La La! Carmelo Anthony’s wife La La was seen stepping out in a gorgeous dress in NYC after news broke he had been traded by the Knicks to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Was she dressing up just for him?

When life gives you curves, flaunt them! Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears and more of the hottest celebs are bringing the heat in flesh-toned bodysuits. It’s all about showing what you’re working with and these stars are proving that with their nude ensembles!